Ferry starts bus tours
THE Queenscliff ferry owners have started their own bus tour company to bring more international tourists to Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.
Explore Australia will launch in September with three buses offering day tours to either side, and around, Port Phillip Bay, from Melbourne.
The Bellarine Peninsula sightseeing and food and winethemed tours will also take passengers from Geelong.
The move comes as Searoad Ferries embarks on a heavy investment program that includes construction of modern ferry terminals at Queenscliff and Sorrento also aimed at meeting international tourism expectations.
Searoad Ferries CEO Matt McDonald said the company had been very active during the past six years in growing its tourist market, with an emphasis on getting visitors to the Great Ocean Road to connect through Geelong and the Bellarine to the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.
He said the investment in the bus company was born out of frustration with Melbourne tour operators’ focus on outand-back day trips with minimal local spend.
“We have been trying for some time to get international tours and tour buses to come via the ferry,” Mr McDonald said.
Using 21-seater deluxe mini coaches, Explore Australia would target the 85 per cent of international tourists who don’t use a car during their visit, Mr McDonald said.
“It’s going to be a significant boost for the Geelong region, because our buses will do a daily service from Melbourne via Geelong, around The Bellarine,” he said.
People will be able to depart and return to Geelong with the “Food and Wine Taste Trail” taking in wine, beer and cider tastings at a handful of venues with lunch at Jack Rabbit Vineyard.
Mr McDonald said the tours reflected a more mature tourism industry in the region.
“I think on the Bellarine we are now getting a critical mass of operators that understand international tourism,” he said.
“Five years ago we wouldn’t have been able to do these tours because we didn’t have operators open seven days a week that understand international markets.”
He said the bus tours would be heavily promoted through the wholesale tourism industry, including international trade missions.
“A business like this is very slow to get off the ground because there is a three-year time lag between people understanding the offering and making a booking,” Mr McDonald said
He said the development of the Sorrento and Queenscliff ferry terminals, costing $36 million, would further stimulate the overseas market by providing world-class facilities, including an “aero bridge” that will allow walk-on passengers direct access to the ferry lounge using a retractable walkway.
“We have done a lot to improve the experience on board the ferries, (but) all of our data in terms of customer feedback says that the terminal experience is not positive, particularly at Sorrento, when there’s not even a toilet and you can’t get a drink,” he said.
Construction of the Queenscliff terminal will go to tender in September, with the project expected to be completed before the end of 2021. Timelines for the Sorrento terminal are 12 months behind Queenscliff.
Searoad Ferries, which employs 135 staff, is expecting to move a million people on its ferry service this year.